I’m given a crown to test its fit

and see if fun feathers its clear

intention, and re-assured, can take delight in it.

Poems load on the web, and near

a ‘Valentine’ Rumanian translation sits

a bit of prose and photo; ooh! a name

at last, technology will spread a laureate’s fame!

First off, I’m asked to judge Grange library’s

poetry comp. for child and adult,

Then a call comes from Cartmel Priory

Comprehensive – such a fine result

I’ll need to keep a proper diary,

should juggling dates prove difficult.

And a new pen too for this October visit?

Proper note-taking’s a requisite.

In March, the Beeb phones up – ‘Hey!

Please comment, for the trumpets in Dora’s field

blow no more! What will tourists say?

Though a supermart’s to the rescue – a yellow shield

of plastic daffs will soothe till May

at least. Please  - laureate verses yield?’

But Radio Four’s listeners’ loss is all my gain –

I’m spared -  being on an inter-city train!

At Keswick, four chums and I act out

my pamphlet number 4, ‘Bundle on the Dresser’

in a fringe event mainly to fellow poets.

A chance meeting, you’ll guess her

name, a videographer wants to interpret

the story of a farmer beset with lesser

and larger woes, and Word Market will bless

our enterprise with Word Market success.

In May, another performance happens

for the Walking Festival, and a recording

for the DVD. A reading at Kendal’s Brewery tavern -

The Women’s Arts International Festival  - is all concord.

In June I’m invited to the launch on a farm

of the Hill Farmers Charter, and take on board

the notion of poems on hill farmers’ gates -

if there’s enough grant on Cumbria’s plates

A poetry group in Cheshire invite me down

to their widely popular evening event

where Welsh and English meet in Chester Town.

Then Janice arranges at Forum 28

a story-telling session, to any one

of any age, and everyone’s well content.

At Higham Hall, Cumbria’s Library Day,

I’ve poems of ‘Love’ on which to play.

In July I’m invited to Italy’s poetry thrash –

to fly Word Market’s flag – ooh, can I go or not?

I work out costs and apply for cash.

And will I speak on Contemporary Cumbrian Poets?

Ooh yes, you bet – what fun – I’ll have a bash -

show the DVD?  read my stuff, not a lot,

alongside Carol Ann Duffy? Oh what

rates higher! Like a weed beside a full-blooming flower pot!

I’m commissioned to write a radio piece,

about Kurt Schwitters, Ambleside artist.

For three months I live with the man and his voice,

appreciate his struggles as refugee and modernist,

and figure an approach that might reach

out to listeners and bring him to life in our midst,

for Kurt’s work points straight to Tracey Amin’s bed

or a pickled shark, or recycled shed.

Richard Rowlett and I make a CD of Kurt,

and pamphlet number 6 begins life well

with a launch in September, when P and Ps take part,

at the Lanternhouse and it swells

the bookshelves of The Tinners Rabbit

and Armitt in Ambleside, where it sells

its limited edition of card, collage and string,

being the sort of thing Kurt S would bring………. home.

To the Coro in September where I’m asked to judge

Cumberland and Westmorland W.I. Federation’s short

story comp. A best bib and tucker occasion I mustn’t fudge

and after lunch must give a report,

like I get again to enjoy and no way grudge  -

announcing the winners - a lively sport -

when Word Market Poetry Comp. gets under way -

but I did that announcement yesterday                          (at ulverston library)

 I read Kurt on air, am interviewed

by Caz Graham, and at the next day’s

International Conference talk of how I pursued

the poem’s making and its sources, my ways

of working, and how Ambleside rescued

his reputation and raises his profile today.

Meanwhile Folly’s Velocity Digifest shoots

the CD of Bundle along the Baycoast rail routes.

Another library reading, with Vicki Feaver,

an interview on radio Cumbria about that Lake Orta jaunt

and Janice arranges National Poetry Day reads

in Forum 28 and the library haunts

with local listeners and readers.

Goody – more opportunities to flaunt

the stuff we strut, and after Orta

I write Word Party poems, as so I oughta!

And what a cake we had! And brilliant offerings –

I hope they swelled Word Market cofferings!

In November, I read a Remembrance Day poem

in Ulverston’s crowded Parish Church,

and the U3A (you’ll know the acronym?)

request a poem to celebrate their first year’s lurch

into being with verve, variety and vim.

Thence to London’s poetry perches,

to twinkle a read in Camden Town

and brighter gleam in Bloomsbury’s prettier gown.

In January I collect my thoughts

to plan the last acts of a laureate’s year,

a P and P poem plus the year’s report

from your ambassador, (all hail to number 6), and here’s

an Auden quote – ‘Like a cheese should be a Poet

locally known but appreciated elsewhere’

which thanks to Word Market and P and P committees

I feel I am, and sign off with a flourish of crayon,

South Cumbria Poet Laureate, 2007.

Thank you for listening, I hope you’ve liked ottava rima’s tone

that’s killed two duties with this single stone.

Maggie Norton

February 2008